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spaceexp · 6 years

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Spinning Science: Multi-use Variable-g Platform Arrives at the Space Station

ISS - International Space Station logo. May 9, 2018

International Space Station (ISS). Image Credit: NASA

Delivered to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX CRS-14, the Multi-use Variable-g Platform (MVP) is a new commercial testbed for centrifuge-based science aboard the orbiting laboratory. Because gravity determines so much of a live organism’s behavior and growth, centrifuge-based experiments have long been a part of biological investigations in space. While the pull of Earth’s gravity makes this type of investigation difficult at home, the space station’s microgravity environment makes it the perfect place for fractional gravity experimentation. MVP greatly expands that testing capability for the space station. “This is a permanent, commercially owned research facility that gives researchers the opportunity to study the effects of gravity and partial gravity on living organisms, and, hopefully, by extrapolation to humans,” said Rich Boling of Techshot, the company responsible for MVP’s design and build.

Image above: An outer view of Techshot’s MVP facility, launched to the space station aboard SpaceX-14. Image Credit: Techshot. What makes the facility so special is its size and capability. Containing two carousels that spin quickly to simulate up to two times the force of gravity, the platform is the largest centrifuge in the U.S. segment of the space station and allows investigators more room for, and control over, their research. With room for six experiment modules on each carousel, Techshot can fly up to 12 separate modules on MVP at a time. Each module is equipped with temperature sensors, and the box that houses the carousels and modules can be set to the exact environmental specifications requested for any investigation. This degree of control and precision makes for better science and clearer data.

Image above: Two carousels sit inside MVP and can create up to 2 g of force. Each carousel can be set to spin at a different speed. Image Credit: Techshot. But before the real science can begin it must undergo hardware validation. Validation testing of the facility uses Drosophila (fruit flies) to verify environmental controls and check MVP’s overall performance. For MVP’s hardware validation run, one carousel will stay stationary to allow scientists to collect a baseline of behavior in microgravity. The other carousel will spin at the normal force of gravity on Earth (1 g) as control group. In addition to validating the controls and operability of MVP, this initial investigation – known as MVP-Fly-01 - will provide science data for researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center. MVP is especially exciting for fruit fly research because it can host larger samples for multiple generations. This initial study will look at biological issues common between humans and fruit flies. The investigation concluded in late April, and the modules were removed from MVP and returned to Earth aboard the same Dragon that delivered them to space. During the run, testing was monitored and controlled from Techshot’s own Payload Operations Control Center in Greenville, Indiana. Much like NASA’s own Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center, the Payload Operations Control Center allows the team at Techshot to talk to, adjust, and pull data from their hardware. A live video link also allows the team to monitor crew interactions with the equipment.

Image above: The first investigation aboard MVP will be a hardware validation run employing laboratory flies, but future investigations could involve a variety of small organisms. Image Credit: Techshot. Asked what kinds of investigations the platform could host, Boling said, “It’s really whatever investigators could dream up that they want to put inside of these experiment modules. Each one empty is about 800ccs of volume. So whatever a research team wants for that volume, we can make it happen, get it up there, and get it back. For example, we have a tissue chip investigation coming up this year for a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MVP greatly expands commercial and research opportunities in low-Earth orbit. Several investigations are already lined up for the platform, and customers include government, academic and commercially-based teams. Says Boling of working with NASA, “The payload that eventually became MVP started out as a Small Business Innovative Research proposal.” After seven years and several phases of development, investment, and product improvement, Techshot was able to secure six research campaigns to get MVP started. These campaigns include research from industry, academia, and two additional investigations for Ames in 2019.

Spinning Science: Multi-use Variable-g Platform Arrives at the Space Station

“We love working with the investigators,” said Boling. “This isn’t our science, but we are the tool that allows scientists to do research that hasn’t been done before or ask questions that haven’t been proposed. The future is bright for MVP, and research gleaned from its upcoming missions will hold benefits for both future missions beyond low-Earth orbit and science back here at home. This investigation is sponsored for the station’s U.S. National Laboratory, which the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) manages. Related article: New Research Heading to Space Station Aboard 14th SpaceX Resupply Mission http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2018/04/new-research-heading-to-space-station.html Related links: Multi-use Variable-g Platform (MVP): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1777 Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS): http://www.iss-casis.org/ U.S. National Laboratory: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/nlab/index.html Commercial Space: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/index.html Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Michael Johnson/JSC/Morgan McAllister. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

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kristablogs · 5 years

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Earth has a new mini-moon, but don’t get too attached

Space rocks much smaller than our moon might occasionally get stuck in our cosmic backyard. (Deposit Photos/)

For the last two and a half years, the Earth may have had two moons. There’s the obvious one that raises the tides and can often be seen during the day, and now researchers have identified a candidate for a second. The “mini-moon,” as some are calling it, is a couch-sized speck roughly 10 trillion times dimmer than its more famous counterpart. And astronomers found the satellite just in time, because soon it will be gone forever.

Kacper Wierzchos and Theodore Pruyne, astronomers with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, first spotted the object. They estimate it measures between six and 12 feet long, and it streaked across the sky on February 15 while they scanned for asteroids. Now, after about ten days of observations by a handful of observatories, the Minor Planet Center has released the details of the satellite’s orbit—a looping, erratic path around Earth. By extrapolating that trajectory backward and forward, researchers estimate that the object, dubbed 2020 CD3, came under the Earth’s gravitational influence in October 2017, and will depart on March 7 of this year, according to Robert Jedicke, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii. Kacper announced the discovery Tuesday on Twitter.

BIG NEWS (thread 1/3). Earth has a new temporarily captured object/Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object. Here are the discovery images. pic.twitter.com/zLkXyGAkZl

— Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020

Here's an animated GIF of our new mini-moon 2020 CD3, discovered by @WierzchosKacper. Rotating frame keeps the Earth/Sun line stationary. Orbital elements courtesy of IUA MPEC. https://t.co/dok3jn3G9hhttps://t.co/x1DXWLq2vm pic.twitter.com/O3eRaOIYjB

— Tony Dunn (@tony873004) February 26, 2020

Researchers have long anticipated studying more of these rare visitors for the lessons they could teach us about our nearest neighbors, but some sky-watchers caution that it’s too soon to know for sure what exactly they’re seeing. While the Earth has one confirmed natural satellite it also has more than 2,000 artificial ones, from communication satellites to spent rockets—and distinguishing space rocks from aluminum siding is tricky at such immense distances.

“I would be excited if this was indeed a natural temporary moon,” says Grigori Fedorets, an astronomer at the University of Helsinki in Finland, who is working with an international team to try to tell if the satellite is natural or artificial. “However, the data is still inconclusive.”

Rocks of all sizes fill Earth’s orbital zone, and sometimes their paths cross with ours. Giant, miles-wide asteroids can be easily seen through telescopes and tiny pebbles a few inches across appear as shooting stars burning up in the atmosphere. But between those two extremes sits a group of boulders in the dozens-of-feet range that researchers are still trying to get a handle on, according to Robert Jedicke, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

Simulations predict that from time to time one of these small asteroids should come close enough for Earth to capture it, at which point it becomes a mini-moon. It then follows what Jedicke calls a “crazy straw orbit” around Earth for an average of nine months before the tug of distant solar system objects pulls it away and slips it back into orbit around the sun. Astronomers found the first mini-moon orbiting us from the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2007, but nothing since. “This current object is a little overdue actually if you ask me,” Jedicke says.

Or the mini-moon may have a more mundane explanation. The Minor Planet Center couldn’t match its orbit to any known artificial satellite, but the object could still be an untracked piece of space debris, or even a long-discarded rocket engine that escaped into orbit around the sun and has since been re-captured by the Earth. Normally light reflects differently off rock and metal, but this object is too dim to identify directly.

To figure out what it might be, groups at the Arecibo Observatory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Deep Space Network are gearing up to snipe the object with a radar pulse and see what bounces back, according to Jedicke, but the strategy’s chances are uncertain. “Detecting a meter-scale object at that distance is challenging in the best of times,” he says.

Meanwhile, others will carefully observe the object, seeking acceleration that can’t be explained by gravity—a sign that sunlight is ever-so-slightly prodding the object. Measuring this effect would reveal the object’s mass and density, which could help researchers make a more informed guess at whether it’s a rock, an empty fuel tank, or a pile of rubble.

Whatever this visitor’s origins, the upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO)—which will scan huge swaths of the sky on successive nights—is likely to find more. Many more. After the facility comes fully online in 2022 it could discover between one and six mini-moons every year, according to a recent simulation done by Fedorets, Jedicke, and three collaborators.

In addition to what these currently invisible objects could reveal about the number of mid-sized asteroids and how they form, they could also serve as practical testbeds for developing asteroid mining and redirecting technologies. Rather than venturing deep into space to explore new asteroids, or trying to drag one back at great expense, Jedicke envisions a future where spacecraft hang out around our main moon, waiting for word from the VRO to jet off and stabilize the orbit of a newly discovered asteroid visitor so it doesn’t leave us before we have the chance to mine it for resources and knowledge.

“That wouldn’t take a lot of work and all of a sudden we’d have this sort of second moon we could go study in detail,” he says, which would provide unprecedented access to material left over from the solar system’s creation.

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scootoaster · 5 years

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Earth has a new mini-moon, but don’t get too attached

Space rocks much smaller than our moon might occasionally get stuck in our cosmic backyard. (Deposit Photos/)

— Kacper Wierzchos (@WierzchosKacper) February 26, 2020

— Tony Dunn (@tony873004) February 26, 2020

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inerginc · 7 years

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With a fibre-optic network that provides Chattanooga residents and businesses with exceptional high-speed communications, the city’s Electric Power Board (EPB) provides the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with an ideal testbed for smart grid research.

With support provided by DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), an effort was launched in 2014 to advance the state of the power grid in Tennessee. The intent was to have Oak Ridge staff scientists, working closely with EPB, use their expertise to test new technologies, examine the use of microgrids, develop new analytics that will allow EPB to unlock the power of its smart grid data to improve operations and use high-performance computing to perform modelling and simulations.

Through their partnership, ORNL and EPB are learning how to best apply sensors, controls, secure communications, and other technologies allowing a power grid to function more autonomously and reliably as it grows and becomes more complex.

This effort leverages the advancements that EPB has made in strengthening its network by rolling out smart grid technologies to make its distribution system more robust and improve operations, thanks in part to $111.5 million in stimulus funds awarded by OE. That investment has allowed EPB to provide continued reliable electric services and respond more effectively to a variety of network events. EPB has estimated that the increased reliability is worth roughly $50 million a year to Chattanooga-area businesses and residents and that the number of customer minutes lost to power outages has decreased by 50%.

For instance, the deployment and integration of distributed energy resources such as renewable power sources like wind and solar brings new operational and technological challenges to utilities nationwide on many fronts, including continuing to provide secure and reliable service to their customers.

The consumption of renewable energy from sources other than hydropower is estimated to have grown by 11.8% in 2016 and will rise another 11.1% in 2017, according to the DOE. Utilities need to ensure the grid is protected and the power provided is consistent even when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.

Through the DOE’s Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC), ORNL is leading eight other national laboratories to work on EPB’s next project: collecting real-time sensor data so the system immediately sees fluctuations and can balance the electrical load.

Sensors gather environmental data, enhance security

Not only are new electrical system operation measurements being gathered from the sensors, but a wide range of additional parameters – from environmental to grid cybersecurity – have been developed and deployed in this living, operational laboratory.

Within a proof of concept phase, ORNL has worked with EPB to install arrays of cybersecure sensors at multiple locations around the municipal utility’s 600 sq mi (1,554 sq km) service territory, mostly at substations. The devices provide real-time data on everything from solar irradiance, temperature, humidity, and wind to the presence of chemicals such as methane and hydrogen.

They also monitor for such inputs as vibrations, radio frequencies, and coronal discharge and capture thermal images from infrared cameras trained on substation transformers. While monitoring environmental conditions, the sensors also provide physical and cybersecurity situational awareness via measuring/monitoring parameters including cellphone signals, presence of drones, and sensor network cyber intrusion attempts, as well as physical intrusion detection.

The additional information about the grid’s operating environment can be fed into EPB’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Utility SCADA systems provide the information to drive a utility’s grid – capturing and analysing data such as current and line voltage and using that information to keep electricity flowing. The fibre network makes the communication of that data back to EPB’s control room nearly instantaneous.

Sensing key to integrating renewables

“The sensors installed so far are capturing mostly environmental conditions associated with the distribution of electricity,” said researcher Peter Fuhr of ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate. “We’re not measuring volts and vars or electromagnetic fields, although we could. We’re concerned with what the ambient environment is like today.”

“The testing we’re doing now with these sensors will help us determine which ones make the most sense to implement on a larger scale,” said Jim Glass, EPB’s manager of smart grid development.

The sensors form a perimeter around EPB’s service area and “help us get some idea of what’s going to happen not just with our own generation but with that of others,” Glass said. For instance, some 16MW of solar generation is already connected to EPB’s system, and 11.6MW of that is owned by two large customers—an automotive plant and the city’s airport. Another 4.4MW comes from smaller installations on primarily residential and commercial rooftops.

“If we get just 15 to 30 minutes of warning about cloud cover moving in with the sensors, that will get us a better idea of what to expect out of solar generation over the next hour or so,” Glass said.

With that advance knowledge, the utility can figure out how best to inject those extra megawatts into its system when it’s sunny – or if clouds are coming in, how it will handle the megawatts customers will need if solar panels aren’t producing, Fuhr explained.

EPB’s fibre network “is a huge advantage to how we operate our system, and it gives scientists like those from Oak Ridge an opportunity to test their technologies,” Glass said.

“There’s no radio interference to worry about. You get high speed and reliability.”

Network speed, reliability advance data exchange, controls

Those attributes are particularly important as smart grid work increasingly relies on the Internet of Things (IoT), Fuhr noted. IoT in this case refers to network connectivity and the embedding of sensors, actuators, software, electronics, and other devices to more efficiently collect and exchange data that allows the control of electricity flows.

Of particular concern to utilities is the potential for cyber intrusions presented by smart, web-connected devices. The recent denial of service attacks presented to the general internet by IoT devices such as web cameras, botnets, and even smart toasters exemplifies the need for a paradigm shift from current cybersecurity policies to a fundamentally different network and companion grid communication integration cybersecurity design, Fuhr said. Aimed at a goal of “getting the electricity grid off the public internet,” ORNL researchers working side by side with EPB network and grid engineers are achieving this goal with a project underway that demonstrates the design goals in an operating utility’s electrical, communications, and data services infrastructure.

Fuhr told Metering & Smart Energy International: “It was purposeful not to align with any particular provider. There are so many Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) providers with a bewildering array of nonstandard designs and protocols. Our IoT activities were aimed specifically at providing sensors and systems that are easy to deploy in an electric utility setting with associated ease of integration into their SCADA system (in this case DNP3)1. Another guiding principle was to design, develop and demonstrate inexpensive IoT – but super secure – devices that are incorporated into the utility’s IT cyber security applications and design.”

Meanwhile, work on integrating renewables continues. EPB will be installing more solar capacity – 1.35MW worth – next summer in a pilot project at its operations centre in a project with the Tennessee Valley Authority. The utility will also soon install a 100 kW/400 kWh vanadium flow battery energy storage system. The battery system will allow the utility to store electricity and help balance its loads.

“One thing we have really appreciated in working with the folks from Oak Ridge is understanding the implications not just of solar but of all distributed generation on our system – what kinds of things we should expect as that grows and how to deal with them,” Glass said. “We don’t have nearly the penetration of renewables like in California or Hawaii, so we don’t have the experience ourselves. That’s why it’s wonderful to have the researchers in Oak Ridge to bounce ideas off of, to ask how this will work and what they’ve seen. This will be extremely valuable, in my mind, to prepare us for down the road.”

In fact, one of the first tasks ORNL undertook for the utility was a case study evaluating the economic benefit of automation technologies that have resulted in fewer and shorter power outages. The study concentrated on the grid’s performance following a major storm and found a benefit of just over $23 million for EPB’s customers, Glass said.

Mobile sensors designed to aid inspections, reliability

In addition to the stationary sensor arrays, EPB and ORNL are studying how sensors installed on drones can help improve system reliability. For instance, mobile sensors can measure electromagnetic and coronal fields; detect other drones; sense for chemicals and smoke; and inspect transmission lines, structures, and other equipment more easily and safely than can standard sensors and inspection methods.

Marissa Morales-Rodriguez of ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate said: “We have increasingly expanded unmanned aerial systems (UASs, aka “drones”) use as a sensor delivery platform to provide a range of parameter measurements throughout the utility’s service area.”

“We consider drones more than just cameras. We consider them to be delivery mechanisms for a wide variety of sensors,” added Morales-Rodriguez.

At ORNL, research on drone applications for a wide variety of work, including grid inspection and evaluation, is performed at its Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Research Centre.

At EPB, the sensor measurements taken during a drone in flight could be seamlessly communicated to the utility’s SCADA system, providing grid operations with real-time data and visual and thermal imagery, thereby allowing them to quite literally see what the drone sees miles away.

Fuhr stressed that there is a need for a fundamental improvement in cybersecurity of electricity grid systems. “It is difficult to overstate the important role of cybersecurity in the communications link between such deployed sensor systems – be they stationary in a substation or mobile on a vehicle or drone – and the core security of the embedded systems. Electrical disruptions due to cyberattack, such as experienced in Ukraine in 2015, are a constant reminder of the need for a robust overall cybersecure infrastructure for our partner utility, EPB, as well as the thousands of other utilities nationwide that may benefit from the sensors and systems being demonstrated in Chattanooga,” Fuhr said.

EPB is currently creating procedures, plans, and training before testing drones on a wider scale. “For instance, proper notification must always be given to nearby customers. We need to make sure elevation limits are obeyed and that we have a plan in place for all events,” Glass said. “The technology and the physical activity are the easy parts.”

Furthermore, the role sensors play on EPB’s system may widen outside grid management. For instance, irradiance sensors could provide data for other jobs and customers in areas such as outdoor lighting and security, noted Lilian Bruce, EPB director of strategic planning. Also, humidity and temperature sensors will become increasingly important in homes and businesses as building envelopes are sealed tighter, she added.

The sensing and smart grid work has a foundational role at EPB, Bruce said. “It reminds me of the installation of our fibre-optic system. Once that was in place, we were able to leverage a lot of services around it. All the technologies we’re working with seem to be aligning,” she added. “They are strengthening each other’s value proposition.”

Going forward EPB will continue to serve as a testbed for smart grid work with ORNL and other national labs as part of the GMLC.

For the utility, the overall goal is to create a system using smart sensing, advanced metering, smart switches, customer software, and other solutions that can identify and isolate problems and automatically reroute power to reduce or avoid outages. MI.

Image Credit: 123rf.

The post EPB Chattanooga and ORNL test the role of sensors in grid innovation appeared first on Metering.com.

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